Licensed psychologists' knowledge and utilization of a state association colleague assistance committee.

Professional impairment creates concern among colleagues, yet often there is no clear plan for help. Although many state psychological associations have developed programs for assisting psychologists, how practitioners view these programs is unknown. Of a random sample of 633 surveyed psychologists, 48% identified behaviors suggestive of impairment, experiences addressing concerns with colleagues, and opinions and knowledge about their state's program. Respondents believed 10% of colleagues to be impaired and indicated that they would most likely use informal methods for expressing concern. Utilization and knowledge of the colleague assistance program were related to length of licensure and membership in the state psychological association. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impaired practitioners: Psychologists' opinions about prevalence, and proposals for intervention.

Surveyed 167 licensed psychologists (academicians and practitioners) about opinions toward impaired practitioners. Results suggest the following: (a) A significant proportion of psychologists were judged to be impaired; (b) the majority of Ss believed that impaired practitioners are a serious problem; (c) few Ss were willing to refer impaired colleagues to a therapist or report them to a regulatory agency; (d) training in ethics was related to awareness, seeking help, offering help, and reporting colleagues to a regulatory agency; and (e) Ss overwhelmingly favored the least restrictive proposals for intervention. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptions of alcohol misuse and work behavior among professionals: Identification and intervention.

Examined the prevalence and effects of alcohol misuse and mental health problems on work behavior among 507 members (mean age 44.3 yrs) of the American Psychological Association (APA) who completed the Needs Assessment Survey (P. E. Nathan et al [1983]). Results indicate that at least one-third of the Ss knew of colleagues who misused alcohol on the basis of fairly overt signs of impairment. Only a select few of the Ss (n?=?61) confronted colleagues about their alcohol misuse; those confronters tended to be older men who saw clients with alcohol problems. In contrast, more Ss confronted colleagues about their mental health problems (n?=?182) and had better treatment outcomes. Considering the ambivalence of psychologists to confront colleague alcohol misuse in the presence of job-related detriment, use of the employee assistance program model of confrontation on demonstrable evidence of job decline seems appropriate. The roles of professional self-help organizations such as Psychologists Helping Psychologists in facilitating recovery of alcohol misusing psychologists and of APA in assisting psychologists in distress are discussed. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcoholism among psychologists: Factors in relapse and recovery.

The demographic, alcohol use, and drug use characteristics, work behavior, and recovery experiences of 108 alcoholic psychologists in an abstinence-based recovery organization (Psychologists Helping Psychologists) were investigated through survey sampling procedures. Respondents were similar in several variables to psychologists in the American Psychological Association and to other health professionals with drug and alcohol problems. The majority of respondents were in good recovery and tended to use a wider variety of relapse-prevention strategies as their length of sobriety increased. Respondents reported several indicators of alcohol-related work impairment, which was observed though seldom confronted by colleagues. Results of multiple regression analyses revealed that alcohol dependence and quality of sobriety were related to relapse and that use of a broad array of relapse-prevention strategies and satisfaction with several life areas were related to the length of sobriety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Career-Sustaining Behaviors, Satisfactions, and Stresses of Professional Psychologists.

A random sample of licensed psychologists from Illinois (N=286) responded to a survey about career-sustaining behaviors (CSBs) and about satisfactions and stresses they experience at work. The highest rated CSBs were spending time with partner/family, maintaining a balance between personal and professional lives, and maintaining a sense of humor. Overall, more satisfied respondents reported greater importance of CSBs. Female respondents reported significantly greater use of CSBs than male respondents and were more likely to endorse behaviors that were relational or educational in nature, such as participating in personal therapy, spending time with friends, discussing work frustrations with colleagues, seeking case consultation, maintaining regular contact with referral networks, participating in continuing-education programs, reflecting on positive experiences, and engaging in quiet leisure activities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologist suicide: Incidence, impact, and suggestions for prevention, intervention, and postvention.

Psychologist practitioners are not immune to certain mental health problems, including suicidality, for which they provide services. In the aftermath of two recent psychologist suicides, the American Psychological Association's Advisory Committee on Colleague Assistance (ACCA) initiated the formation of a conjoint ad hoc committee consisting of members from ACCA, the American Psychological Association (APA) Practice Directorate, and the Section on Clinical Emergencies and Crises (Section VII of APA's Division 12) to investigate the incidence of psychologist suicide and its impact on colleagues, students or interns, patients or clients, and the profession. The committee reviewed the extant empirical literature on suicide rates for psychologists, evaluated unpublished data on psychologist suicide provided by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), interviewed colleague survivors, reviewed published case reports of the impact of therapist suicides, and linked their findings to the literature on professional distress, impairment, and self-care. The committee concluded that there is evidence suggestive of an elevated risk of suicide for psychologists in past decades. It further concluded that there is a need for further research to confirm if there is a heightened risk of suicide for psychologists in the present day and to determine factors that might contribute to such risk. Accounts from colleague-survivors suggest that the impact of a psychologist's suicide can affect many people including family, colleagues, students, and patients or clients. This article offers suggestions for possible preventive approaches, for intervention with potentially at-risk colleagues, and for postvention efforts in the wake of a colleague suicide. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Veils, values, and social responsibility.

Contends that psychologists and other experts who appear in the public arena focus their efforts on conclusory statements, rather than intermediate observations and conceptual insights; fail to disclose the host of values underlying their work; and obscure uncertainties and divisions of opinion that may exist about their findings. The best way for psychologists to cure themselves of these habits of nondisclosure may be to adopt a special mind-set. Just as psychologists have adapted themselves in distinctive ways to their roles as scientists and clinicians, they need to recognize that their role in the public arena demands yet a 3rd distinct adaptation. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A preliminary survey of counseling psychologists' personal experiences with depression and treatment.

The fact that psychologists may not realize how much their own diagnosable emotional problems can impact their practices led to the undertaking of an exploratory survey of practicing psychologists in order to assess that notion. The results of a random sample of 1,000 psychologists indicate that women were more frequent respondents than men by a ratio of 3 to 2 and that depression (dysthymia) was the most frequently acknowledged diagnosis. Respondents felt that their emotional issues gave them more empathy for their clients; however, they also experienced an increased sense of isolation from their colleagues and lessened energy and ability to concentrate in their relationships with their clients. Recommendations are offered for self-care practices for psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

APA's Resilience Initiative.

Resilience is the human ability to adapt in the face of tragedy, trauma, adversity, hardship, and ongoing significant life stressors. Focus groups conducted by the APA Practice Directorate after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, found people to be experiencing a chronic sense of stress and uncertainty for which they wanted to be more resilient. In response, APA launched its public education campaign, "The Road to Resilience," in August 2002. A key component of the campaign is community outreach by psychologists, in which psychologists around the country bring information about resilience directly into their communities. This has allowed psychologists to help their communities and to help communities better understand the value of psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding stress and burnout in shelter workers.

Crisis intervention workers and other front-line mental health workers often face excessive stress and seek psychotherapy or supervision and support from professional psychologists. The authors sought information on job-related stressors, coping mechanisms, and burnout levels and found that shelter workers who reported high job-related stress and low social support may be most vulnerable to experiencing burnout symptoms. Psychologists providing clinical or consultation services to domestic violence shelter staff should emphasize the importance of creating a supportive work environment, developing a sense of personal accomplishment related to one's work, and teaching and modeling helpful coping strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologist distress and impairment: The availability, nature, and use of colleague assistance programs for psychologists.

Psychologists regularly grapple with a variety of stressors that may lead to distress or impairment. But, what services are available to assist psychologists in confronting these challenges? All 59 state and provincial psychological associations (SPPAs) were surveyed to examine the programs and resources available for distressed or impaired member psychologists. The SPPAs' decision to offer such programs, as well as the nature, extent, use, and implications of the limited services currently available, is reviewed and discussed. Recommendations are made for how SPPAs may more adequately meet the needs of their members and the public they serve. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work-family spillover and life satisfaction among professional psychologists.

How do the professional lives of psychologists influence their personal and family lives? Data from 485 psychologists who responded to a survey on professional and family life were analyzed to examine work-to-family spillover, life satisfaction, and family support. Respondents reported a significantly higher incidence of positive spillover, termed family enhancers, than negative spillover, termed family stressors. The low incidence of family stressors suggested that stresses associated with the professional work of psychology do not routinely spill over into professionals' family lives. Both positive and negative spillover, however, played significant roles in mediating the relationship between work and family domains. On the positive side, a sense of personal accomplishment at work was associated with increased family enhancers, which appeared to lead to greater family support and life satisfaction. On the negative side, emotional exhaustion at work was associated with more family stressors, which appeared to lead to less family support and life satisfaction. The implications of these findings for training and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social support, social stressors at work, and depressive symptoms: Testing for main and moderating effects with structural equations in a three-wave longitudinal study.

This study investigated the moderating effects of social support by supervisors and colleagues relative to social stressors at work and depressive symptoms using a structural equations approach in a 3-wave longitudinal study over 1 year. The analyses were based on a randomly drawn sample of 543 citizens (aged 16–63 yrs) in the area around Dresden in the former East Germany. LISREL analysis with latent moderating effects revealed a moderating effect for supervisor support. This applied only if the time lag was 8 months, but not for longer or shorter lags. Under low-support conditions depressive symptoms were increased by social stressors, whereas, contrary to expectations, social stressors reduced subsequent depressive symptoms under high-support conditions. No moderating effect for colleague support was found. Several mechanisms are discussed that may explain the results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

American Psychological Association policy in context: The development and evaluation of guidelines for professional practice.

This article focuses on guidelines for professional practice and related policy development in this area by the American Psychological Association's (APA) Board of Professional Affairs (BPA) over the past decade. BPA's work in this area has been based on its belief that the intention of guidelines should be to facilitate the continued systematic development of the profession and to support a high level of professional practice by psychologists. APA policy related to practice guidelines, as articulated in the "Criteria for Practice Guideline Development and Evaluation" (APA, 2002) is based on the perspective that practice guidelines have a useful purpose for practitioners when they are developed in response to a recognized need in the field and that APA is the most appropriate and reputable organization to develop such recommendations for psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Industrial/organizational psychology in Canada: An introduction.

The objective in this Special Issue is to provide colleagues and students with an introduction to current research and professional issues in industrial/organizational psychology in Canada. The authors provide a historical context for that current work and offer some suggestions for future directions. The authors include a cross-section of industrial/organizational psychologists at work in Canada today, reflecting regional, language and gender differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reliability, sensitivity to measuring change, and construct validity of a measure of counselor adaptability.

Conducted 3 studies with 44 practicing counselors (aged 24–42 yrs), 11 counselors-in-training, and 42 counselors whose experience ranged from MA-level trainees through PhD psychologists with 18 yrs postdoctoral experience as counselors to assess the psychometric adequacy of the Counselor Behavior Analysis Scale (CBAS). The CBAS measures the central explanatory construct of the adaptive counseling and therapy theory of the 2nd author and colleagues (in press), that is, counselor adaptability. Results suggest that counselor adaptability can be appropriately measured by the CBAS and that counselor adaptability is highly predictive of counseling outcome and is related to other counselor constructs (specifically empathy and talkativeness). (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Outstanding contributors to psychology.

Discusses two studies conducted in 1956 and 1957 on the opinions of US psychologists about outstanding colleagues in psychological history. Hope Hunter's "Who's Who in Psychological America" assessed which American psychologists were considered "outstanding" among a random sample of APA members. In 1957, Lynn Wickard conducted a questionnaire study ("Psychological America's Who's Who") to determine how American psychologists would rate psychologists disregarding national location. It is concluded that because there is some correlation of age with membership status, the differences in the opinions of Fellows compared to Associates will indicate changes in the influential figures for different generations of psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training for substance abuse treatment among psychologists in a rural state.

Is treating substance abuse generally a part of psychological practice? Do psychologists feel prepared to deliver substance abuse treatment? Licensed psychologists in Idaho were surveyed about their training and provision of substance abuse services. Of 144 respondents (66% return rate), nearly all (89%) had contact with substance abusers, yet most rated their graduate training as inadequate preparation for practice. Rural psychologists reported seeing the highest percentage of substance abusers. Many psychologists limited their treatment to self-help group referral. Continuing education offers the most immediate solution and might be related to certification efforts. Predoctoral training of generalist psychologists, especially in rural areas, is advocated with an emphasis on integrated behavioral health care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On preserving a legacy: Psychoanalysis and psychological testing.

With changes in the structure of the Menninger Foundation and its relocation from Topeka, Kansas, to Houston, Texas, and the greater opportunity for psychologists to obtain full psychoanalytic training, interest among psychologists/psychoanalysts in psychological testing has waned. This, in my judgment, is unfortunate, because it raises the possibility that fewer psychoanalytically oriented psychologists will be aware of the work of Rapaport and his contributions to testing. Based on the conviction that Rapaport's legacy is worth preserving, especially at a time when several are calling for a firming up of the scientific basis of psychoanalysis, in this article I review Rapaport's contributions to psychological testing, those of his students and colleagues, and discuss the work of current writers within this tradition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)